Squid and the Whale

Theatrical Release Date: 2005 10 05 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 043396134942

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Adult Situations, Strong Sexual Content, Adult Humor, Profanity, Alcohol Consumption, Youth Substance Use]

Summary: Two boys learn the hard way about how a marriage falls apart in this independent comedy drama. Bernard (Jeff Daniels) is a novelist whose career has gone into a slow decline as he spends more time teaching and less time writing. His wife, Joan (Laura Linney), meanwhile, has recently begun publishing her own work to widespread acclaim, which only increases the growing tension between them. One day, Bernard and Joan's two sons -- 16-year-old Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and 12-year-old Frank (Owen Kline) -- are told that their parents are separating, with Bernard renting a house on the other side of their Park Slope, Brooklyn, neighborhood. As the parents set up a schedule for spending time with their children, Walt and Jesse can hardly imagine that things could get more combative between their folks, but they do, as Joan begins dating Ivan (William Baldwin), Frank's tennis instructor, and Bernard starts sharing the house with Lili (Anna Paquin), one of his students. Meanwhile, the two boys begin taking sides in the battle between their parents, with Walt taking after his father and Frank siding with his mom. Based on writer/director Noah Baumbach's own childhood experiences with his parents' divorce, The Squid and the Whale won prizes for writing and direction at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: In Competition – Sundance Film Festival Dramatic Directing Award – Sundance Film Festival Best Screenplay – Sundance Film Festival Best Picture – Independent Spirit Awards Best Director – Independent Spirit Awards Best Screenplay – Independent Spirit Awards Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Independent Spirit Awards Best Actress – Independent Spirit Awards Best Actor – Independent Spirit Awards Best Screenplay – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Young Actor – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Young Actor – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Screenplay – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Original Screenplay – National Board of Review Best Picture - Musical or Comedy – null Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or – null Best Picture – American Film Institute Most Promising Performer – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Original Screenplay – Writers Guild of America Best Actress – Toronto Film Critics Association Best Screenplay – Toronto Film Critics Association Best Actor - Runner-up – National Society of Film Critics Best Screenplay – National Society of Film Critics Best Original Screenplay – Online Film Critics Association Breakthrough Performer – Online Film Critics Association Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Screenplay – New York Film Critics Circle Screenwriter of the Year – London Film Critics Association Best Actor – London Film Critics Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture - Musical or Comedy – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Supporting Actor – Independent Spirit Awards

Features: ccDirector commentary
Behind-the-scenes featurette
Interview with director Noah Baumbacha and writer Phillip Lopate
Collectible Insert

Squid and the Whale

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 03/21/2006

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 81 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- The Squid and the Whale
1. Start [:00]
2. Family Conference [:00]
3. Joint Custody Blows [:00]
4. Tennis Lesson [:00]
5. "We Have the Same Bone Structure" [:00]
6. Lili Moves In [:00]
7. "It's Still My Night!" [:00]
8. "I'm Your Teacher" [:00]
9. Talent Show [:00]
10. "He Made His Own Interpretation" [:00]
11. The Cat Escapes [:00]
12. "The Man in That Room..." [:00]

Josh Ralske

Writer/director Noah Baumbach takes a major step forward as a filmmaker with The Squid and the Whale. Perhaps it's the combination of revelatory autobiographical content and producer Wes Anderson's formal influence, but this is Baumbach's most emotionally potent and visually coherent film to date. While Baumbach's primary focus remains on his characters -- their personality quirks including what might be called "comfort phrases," (Ivan's use of "my brother" as punctuation, Joan [Laura Linney] calling her children "Pickle" and "Chicken," and Bernard's [Jeff Daniels] use of "filet," as in "Leonard is the filet of the crime genre," are good examples) -- his visuals, including a trip across Prospect Park by subway (while the family takes the car) work strongly in support of his narrative. Baumbach's ubiquitous references to other films, distractingly prominent in his earlier work, are integrated seamlessly into The Squid and the Whale. While his other films certainly had their tender, sincere moments, Baumbach occasionally seemed to strain to get laughs, or to ingratiate the audience to his oddball characters. He moves beyond that here. His blunt rendering of Frank's (the amazing young Owen Kline) disturbed sexual reaction to his parents' split, and Walt's (Jesse Eisenberg as a stand-in for the young Baumbach) pretentious adoption of his father's air of intellectualism feel painfully true to life, beyond their entertainment value. As piercing and witty as Baumbach's script is, it couldn't work without a superb cast. These are deeply flawed people struggling through a crisis, unable to see beyond their own narrow view. Baumbach captures the pain and confusion that lurk beneath their anger and bluster. The Squid and the Whale is marked by a sometimes painful emotional honesty that lends even the goofiest characters (e.g. Ivan) their dignity and humanity. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Peter Newman  Producer 
Noah Baumbach  Director 
Noah Baumbach  Screenwriter 
Andrew Lauren  Executive Producer 
Wes Anderson  Producer 
Reverge Anselmo  Executive Producer 
Miranda Bailey  Executive Producer 
Charlie Corwin  Producer 
Clara Markowicz  Producer 
Greg Johnson  Executive Producer 
Jeff Daniels  Actor 
Laura Linney  Actor 
Jesse Eisenberg  Actor 
Owen Kline  Actor 
William Baldwin  Actor 
Halley Feifer  Actor 
Anna Paquin  Actor 
Ken Leung  Actor 

Country: USA